Rick Taylor

John Shulman scribbled "pregame warm-up" as an add to the to-do list running down the margin of his legal pad Wednesday.

"That's one more thing we have to talk about," the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball coach said. "We have to go over how we do our pregame warm-ups."

His Mocs will play Tennessee Wesleyan tonight at 7 in an exhibition game at McKenzie Arena.

The final score will not matter -- though a UTC loss would be humiliating -- and how the players execute may not even be as important as them experiencing a game-day routine.

With five starters and another then-senior gone from the 2009 Southern Conference championship squad, all of the newcomers and last year's reserves need to learn the UTC way of a game day.

"Everything has to be on a time schedule," junior college transfer Ridge McKeither said. "Preparation, the whole day is very important, and being organized this time will help us for the first real game."

The pregame meal starts four hours before tipoff, and that is not a gathering in the locker room for pizzas and Coca-Cola.

"Since this is my first college game, I'm experiencing a lot of new things," UTC freshman guard Josh Odem said. "We're going against new players, with experience, and you have to listen to what Coach says."

The shoot-around is serious, not a free-for-all like a pre-practice shoot-around. Then there are the scouting reports to memorize with opposing players listed on the dry-erase board in the team meeting room. Players learn what sort of shooter they'll be guarding based on how many stars are by his name.

Opponents usually get one or two stars -- three for a 44-percent 3-point shooter such as College of Charleston guard Andrew Goudelock, the Southern Conference preseason player of the year. Former Davidson guard Stephen Curry had a record five stars by his name last year, and those weren't enough: He buried a 75-footer at the end of the first half of the Wildcats' game at UTC.

"This is still a learning experience for all of us," Shulman said. "They don't know how hard we go in shoot-around. They don't know about meetings beforehand. They don't know about scouting reports and the like.

"Saturday is an important day for us."

Only six Mocs who played against Connecticut in the final game of last season will take the floor tonight against the Bulldogs.

"I've been anticipating this since we lost in the NCAA tournament last year," sophomore guard Ricky Taylor said. "Even though it doesn't count, I'm excited to play in it."